Aion: The Tower of Eternity is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in Korea and China with localized versions in development for other regions of the world. The game developer is NCsoft\'s Aion Team Development Dept, a major Korean game developer. Aion combines PvP and PvE in a fantasy game environment. A unique feature of the game is flight, both as a means of transportation and aerial combat. Other games in this genre typically offer flight only as a means of travel, while combat is reserved for the ground.
History
Development
Following the announcement of the game in May 2006 with a preview at E3 2006., NCsoft developed it over the following year at their software design studio in South Korea. Closed beta testing in Korea began in late 2007 , followed by an open beta test in November 2008. A version of the game localized for China began its closed beta testing in December 2008, and began open beta testing on April 8, 2009, ending on April 18, 2009.
The game is also being localized for western markets including North America, Europe, and Australia. NCSoft has held two open beta testing event weekends in June, 2009 open to players in North America and Europe. Each had a limited focus. The first, held June 5-7th, 2009, focused on the Elyos from level 1 through 20. The second initially had a focus of level 1 to 10 for the Asmodians, but at the last minute it was decided to allow it to be open to level 10 for both factions. There are plans for four more open beta events on weekends spanning through July and August, 2009.
Release
Release in South Korea
Aion was released in South Korea on November 28, 2008. Given the success of NCSoft\'s previous games, Lineage and Lineage II, Aion had been a highly anticipated game in South Korea ever since its announcement. At the end of 2008 Aion won the award \"Best Korean Game of the Year\" for its \"epic scale, immersive story, and stunning graphics and sound design\" .
Release in China
The game was released in China on April 16, 2009.
North American & European Release
NCsoft has confirmed a North American release date of September 22, 2009 and a European release date of September 25, 2009.
Australian release
NCSoft will distribute AION in Australia through QVSoftware in Spring (southern hemisphere) 2009 , and will be released on September 22, 2009.
Taiwan release
NcSoft will begin Closed Beta of AION in Taiwan on June 8 2009 with several ways of getting hold of the CB accounts via events and magazines.
Story
In the beginning there was a god named Aion who ruled over a world called Atreia. This god created a race of intelligent entities to act as his servants (in likeness to angels) whom he called the Balaur. After some time passed the Balaur disobeyed Aion\'s wishes and rebelled against their creator. The god Aion then created the 12 Empyrean Lords. The Empyrean Lords in turn created a barrier which prevented the Balaur from attacking the humans charged under their protection. Within this barrier all things were safe. The Balaur ravaged and destroyed many of the living things residing outside of the barrier.
Some humans, living within the safety of the barrier, learned how to harness some of the same energy as the Empyrean Lords, known as aether. Such humans were called Daeva and, like the Empyrean Lords, had wings. With time, enough Daevas were born to form an army. Ten of the Empyrean Lords led these Daevas into battle against the Balaur, while the remaining two were the guardians of the Tower of Eternity, the embodiment of the god Aion. The war with the Balaur lasted for hundreds of years until one of the guardians of the tower announced that they should find a way to make peace with the Balaur. Five of the Empyrean Lords vehemently disagreed. However, the second guardian of the tower was swayed to peace. The Balaur were invited into the tower for peace talks. It is unclear what happened at that point. One of the Balaur lords lay wounded on the floor and the rest proceeded to attack the tower. The two Guardians attempted to raise the shield by going to opposite ends of the tower. However, they were unsuccessful and the tower, along with the world, shattered in two. As their final act, the two guardians sacrificed their lives in order to protect a part of Atreia. With Atreia severed, the survivors banded together to face their new world. Of the original twelve, ten of the Empyrean Lords survived. Five who had opposed peace and claimed that the weakness of the rest of the lords had allowed the Balaur to attack them reigned over the dark part of the world, becoming known as the Shedim Lords. The other five reigned over the light-covered bottom part of Atreia and claim that it was the Shedim Lord\'s actions that caused the breaking of the tower. They are known as the Seraphim Lords.
The new shape of the world also reshaped its inhabitants. Those that lived in the light part of the world saw little change except for an increase in their beauty. These followers of the Seraphim Lords called themselves Elyos and created the city of Sanctum. The inhabitants of the upper part of the world saw many changes. Having to walk on ground strewn with fragments of the tower, their feet became talons. Having to fight against beasts, their hands became claw-like. Furthermore, the darkness made their complexion change and their eyes grew red adapting to the absence of light. They call themselves Asmodians and live in the city of Pandemonium under the rule of the Shedim Lords.
Classes
There are four primary classes, and eight specialized classes in the game. Players start the game by choosing one of the four primary classes: Warrior, Mage, Scout, or Priest. After attaining level 10, the players are given the choice to choose from the two specialized classes associated with that base class. This allows players to get a feel for the playstyle of the class before making a major decision as to which class to play for the rest of the game.
Each faction will have a slight variation in class skills once they reach the first promotion at level 10. Higher-level players can tailor their character further, with each profession offering two advanced classes, bringing the total number of character types available up to eight.
Mage
Mages have weak physical combat ability but they can launch devastatingly powerful magic attacks. There are two specializations possible for mages: Spiritmasters and Sorcerers.
Sorcerer
The sorcerer follows the path of magic, mastering the elements of water, fire, wind, and earth. A sorcerer\'s skill set becomes very diverse as their combat ability evolves.
* Special ability: Long range damage spells
* Play style: Magical ranged damage dealer
Spiritmaster
Spiritmasters are the only summoning class in the game. They can control water, fire, earth, and air spirits.
* Special ability: Summoning powerful elemental spirits
* Play style: A pet class with ranged DPS power
The challenge for the Spiritmaster comes from recognizing which element to call on at a given time. Earth spirits hold strong defensive abilities, Fire spirits excel in close range attacks, Water spirits concentrate on healing powers and ranged DPS, and Wind spirits are proficient at speed as well as melee and magic attacks.
Priest
Spiritual warriors, priests can use healing and self-protection spells to excel in melee combat, and launch powerful ranged magic attacks too. This makes them not only useful support characters in a party of adventurers, but also powerful combatants in their own right. There are two priest specializations: Clerics and Chanters.
Chanter
The Chanter is primarily a buff provider, but also has access to healing and damage spells as well.
* Special ability: Fortification magic using healing and mantras
* Play style: Healing, buffing. In an emergency a chanter can fight in close range combat using a magic staff or, similar to the cleric, mace and shield combination.
Cleric
Healer class. Able to raise the dead.
* Special ability: Healing and protection
* Play style: Able to use a mace and shield and 2 handed staffs.
Scout
The scout combines great agility with swift attacks. Scouts can specialize into one of two sub-classes: Ranger or Assassin.
Assassin
Assassins are experts in deft movement and the silent termination of their target.
* Special ability: Striking without detection
* Play style: Stealth DPS
Ranger
* Special ability: Range diversity of attack
* Play style: Ranged DPS with traps
Warrior
Warriors excel in close-quarter combat. Strong performers in a wide range of situations, Warriors are relatively easy to master. Warriors can specialize into one of two sub-classes: gladiators, who concentrate on dealing damage (DPS), or templars, who combine fierce fighting with defensive chants and techniques (tanks).
Gladiator
Gladiators can use many types of weapons, ranging from swords to halberds.
* Special ability: Close combat
* Play style: Close combat DPS along with good AoE capability.
Templar
Fighting with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, the Templar is both guardian and fierce combatant. To remain effective, the Templar should stay on or close to the front firing line.
* Special ability: Protection chants
* Play style: Tanking
Features
Graphics
* The game uses a heavily modified version of the CryEngine (originally developed by Crytek, now owned by Ubisoft).
* Aion won GameAmp\'s 2006 E3 MMORPG \"Best Graphics\" Award.
Character customization
The character creation system allows for a great deal of character customization. Players will be able to radically adjust height / weight & scale the size of body parts. Different hair styles, skin colors, facial textures and voices can also be chosen. Further detailing can be found in the selection of eye colors and tattoos for the character\'s face and body.
The game will also allow a player to reuse the graphic of a weapon or an armor that they like and craft it with the statistics of a different item. This adds another layer of customization and strategy and allow players to control the look of their avatar without sacrificing the better stats of an item that they find visually unappealing.[10] With this system you can also alter the colors of your armor to make your avatar more visually distinctive.
Music
Most of the music was created by Ryo Kunihiko. A sample of the soundtrack is available on the official European and Chinese sites.
Skill chains
As a character progresses in the game, they will learn additional skills, some of which form part of a Skill Chain. A skill chain is a group of skills that as each skill is used, unlocks the next skill in the chain. Generally the skills at the end of the chain are much more powerful.
PvPvE system
The end game of Aion will revolve around battles within the Abyss (PvP zone). Within the Abyss are castles which can be controlled by individual Legions (Aion equivalent of a guild). Battle for control of these castles involves combat against players of the opposing faction and computer controlled NPCs at the same time, using siege weapons obtained from end game PvE raid content. Legions in control of a castle are entitled to funding from taxes and players within the faction get specials from NPCs. The game currently does not allow factions to fight against those of their own race, except for casual duels.
The participation in PvP is rewarded with PvP \"Points\" (called Abyss Points in the game). The game ranks players as battles are won against fellow players. At higher ranks the character\'s wings will change in appearance to show the character\'s elevated status. Also certain items can be purchased with these points such as high-end armor and weapons.
Raids
Raids will consist of up to 4 groups with up to 6 players per group for a maximum of 24 players in a single raid.
Professions
There are 6 Production professions and 2 Extracting (gathering) professions.
Collection professions gather raw materials and ingredients from resources found while exploring the world.
Crafting professions create useful items from raw materials. The current crafting professions are:
* Weaponsmithing
* Armorsmithing
* Sewing
* Handiwork
* Alchemy
* Cooking
Items from crafting skills can help in combat and some are essential for capturing castles in the Abyss.